by Jim Corbett, USA TODAY Sports

by Jim Corbett, USA TODAY Sports

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell must drop the hammer by issuing lengthy suspensions in the wake of the independent investigative findings issued by Ted Wells on Friday. That was the conclusion Hall of Fame tight end Shannon Sharpe shared with USA TODAY Sports after the scathing study concluded that Miami Dolphins guard Richie Incognito and two teammates directed a pattern of vulgar harassment at tackle Jonathan Martin, an unidentified young lineman and a member of the team's training staff.

"If what is in the report is true - and I think this guy has done a thorough investigation - I think the commissioner needs to and will send the strongest of messages to let everyone know that this will not be tolerated," Sharpe said. "Because what we've seen from the commissioner with Bountygate and the New Orleans Saints is he sends a message: 'This won't happen again.'

"The one thing I know about this commissioner: He's firm, but he's fair. He will send the strongest of messages that this is unacceptable behavior."

Sharpe went a step further when he added that Incognito should be banned from the game altogether.

"It's time for Richie Incognito to find another line of work," Sharpe said. "For Richie Incognito, we've seen what and who he is. He's been kicked off two teams. ... This will be the third team he'll have to leave under bad circumstances. How many chances does a guy get?"

Incognito wore out his welcome with the St. Louis Rams, who drafted him in 2005, and had a brief stopover with the Buffalo Bills in 2009 before joining the Dolphins in 2010. He also left the University of Nebraska under a cloud of boorish behavior and transferred to Oregon. But he was dismissed by then-Ducks coach Mike Bellotti for undisclosed violations before ever playing a game.

Wells, a high-profile New York attorney enlisted by the NFL, concluded in his 144-page report that constant verbal abuse and racial slurs from Incognito and fellow offensive linemen John Jerry and Mike Pouncey drove Martin into a downward spiral of depression that culminated with his decision to leave the team in October.

Martin said he endured "racially derogatory language" and checked himself into a mental hospital Oct. 28 after a last-straw cafeteria prank pushed him over the edge. Martin, 24, admitted to twice contemplating suicide in 2013.

Sharpe concedes an NFL locker room is not a normal workplace environment, but "regardless, there is a proper decorum that must be in place at all times, a respect and a tolerance level that can't be overlooked or understated."

After conducting more than 100 interviews, Wells' team wrote in the long-awaited report that Martin was "taunted on a persistent basis with sexually explicit remarks about his sister and his mother and at times was ridiculed with racial insults and other offensive comments."

All three teammates made derogatory remarks about Martin's family.

"It's what do we do going forward? What do we do to make this right and to make sure that this does not happen again?" NFLPA executive board member and former Philadelphia Eagles and Denver Broncos safety Brian Dawkins asked aloud in a conversation with USA TODAY Sports.

"The NFL workplace should be a place you can go into and you can have success. The pressures on the field are great enough on players. ... You should not have to deal with the pressures from any teammates, especially to the point that Jonathan Martin had to endure them."

"There are things that happened in the Miami locker room that should have not have been allowed to happen and festered," said Dawkins, who played 16 seasons in the league. "It's up to the NFL and the commissioner as far as making sure that a guy is not held captive so (he can) to speak to a situation that could hurt them whether it be physical or mentally."

Martin hopes to resume his career, but that reboot will likely take place with another organization.

Because Wells' report cited "many hallmarks of a classic case of bullying," the investigation is likely to enact a pervasive, league-wide culture change.

"I think change will be a point of emphasis for each team in the NFL. It will be something that will be talked about quite a bit - and as a result, I don't think you'll see anything take place like this again," said former NFL lineman Ross Tucker of Sirius NFL Radio and the Ross Tucker Football Podcast.

"If you took some things that took place in locker rooms I've seen, some people would be horrified. I played for five teams. But the stuff that happened in Miami is pretty far beyond anything I had ever experienced.

"There are things that are accepted there that wouldn't be accepted in other places. ... But this goes way above and beyond."

Tucker described the locker room as a perpetual bubble of adolescence.

He says some players "can still be what they were like in high school and college to some extent. It's nothing like the real world. A lot of guys don't grow up because they never have to.

"The only positive that will come out of this is that it will make the NFL workplace a more professional environment."

Arizona Cardinals tackle Eric Winston, a long-time player representative active in the union's leadership said the important takeaway is that the Miami case "is an isolated incident."

"It's important that leaders in locker rooms take a good, hard look at themselves and say, 'Hey, what kind of culture and leadership am I providing?' " Winston said. "Hopefully, guys make some changes and (say) 'Maybe I should lay off some of the young guys,' they have been hard on.

"It's definitely going to be soul-searching time just to make sure they're not going down that path. It's just a matter of accountability from veteran leadership on down."

Such a renewed sense of accountability and tolerance seems all the more important given Missouri pass rusher Michael Sam's public announcement Sunday that he is homosexual. Assuming he is drafted or signed this offseason, Sam will become the NFL's first openly gay player.

"In Michael Sam's case, it will be about leadership in the locker room and leadership in the organization," Winston said. "If he doesn't go to a place that has that, it could be a little more of a roller coaster for him.

"The same thing with all this stuff - you have to have the guys in the locker room who are willing to stand up for what is right."